Mr Spock

Just took in half a dozen bright and familiar doubles. Back to the moon now:-

Quick snap with the D500 taken just now - 00:45 in the morning

I notice in the Tak the field curvature seen in the f5 Newt isn't there. I'm guessing therefore it's f related. From 8 all the way down to 3 it's turning in a great performance. The difference between it and high end eyepieces is very small indeed and you could be happy (as a refractor owner) with this as your main eyepiece. I think f5 Newt owners should look elsewhere. For the money it has to be the best bargain ever.

Having a great lunar session. Seeing is quite good if a little wobbly. It's the long period wobble you get sometimes. Gassendi N is resolved into a crater and is a fine sight with the rille next to it. A good chance to evaluate eyepieces again - full report to come. The Svbony 3-8 field curvature I noted in the f5 Newt is not evident in the f7.4 apo - interesting. Comparing the 3mm setting, it's very good, falling just short of the 3.3mm TOE and 3.5mm LVW. I prefer the view through the LVW, it has that 'easy on the eye' feel to it. That's another eyepiece better in the f7.4 - in the f5 it's too easy to get blackouts from incorrect eye position. Same. It's an interesting feature. Shame I didn't have the 12" out so I could get a bit more magnification. The south part of the Schiller Annular Plain, or whatever they call it now, is very prominent. Going back out now - there's so much to see yet!

I'll be on it shortly. Put the 100 out and had a quick peek at Gassendi. Perfectly presented. Just let the scope cool a little and we're off.

Likely, but obviously not at the same setting. That's the advantage of the variable polariser. You can set it to whatever feels comfortable.

I'm sure the 125mm will be excellent. You can't really tell from images though. I'll stick to my 100mm. Apart from the quality there's the size issue. It's small, light and convenient.

That's a bit unnecessary. I'm sure all scope owners, no matter what they have, can get along

Approximate view of Jupiter without and with a polariser in a large aperture. Not entirely accurate but you get the idea. It's especially important for Venus with almost any aperture.

I keep mine in a tray with the eye dust cap on to prevent misting. I don't have enough pockets for all of them anyway, especially the larger ones

I haven't started my review yet. I still have to give it a full workout on the 4" Tak. On the 12" I was able to use it at the 5mm, 4mm and 3mm settings on the moon a couple of nights ago. Field curvature wasn't as evident as longer focal lengths and not intrusive. The eyepiece was sharp at all settings against the 4mm Nirvana, 7mm, 6mm and 4mm Circle-T orthos, 6mm SLV, 3.5mm and 5mm LVWs, with some variation - it wasn't a match for the 8mm LVW and the orthos looked 'cleaner'. It couldn't match the 4mm and 3.3mm TOEs in any area; the TOEs were sharper, clearer and had better contrast; they were able to pick up the tiniest of craters - I won't be selling them! I did note the magnification looked the same as the 3.3mm TOE at the 3mm setting - objective rather than scientific. I also had to fold down the eyecup to feel comfortable. My tiny 4mm ortho was easier to look though!

I think there are many swings an roundabouts between a good apo and a Newtonian. On a day of good seeing my 12" Newt can reveal the finest detail on the moon. A few nights ago it was cruising at x380. It's not the highest it can go as the seeing wasn't perfect, but high enough to see 1km craters. However, the same night, double stars were fuzzy. When seeing is excellent it shows pinpoint airy discs, and I have split 0.4" doubles, but it does require excellent seeing. Very good isn't good enough and most of the time stars can look fuzzy. With something like Jupiter you have to use a variable polariser with the 12" to cut down brightness. When you do you can't see diffraction spikes. The 4" apo on the other hand shows airy discs at the drop of a hat. Seeing can be just acceptable and it is good. It can never approach the 12" for detail, but its performance belies its size, especially when seeing isn't so good. If I was going purely for double stars I'd want a large apo. 150mm+ if funds were unlimited. There's the other issue, cost. If you include the mount, the 4" in total cost four times what the 12" cost... I'm sure you could create an offset sub aperture mask for the 12" to avoid the central obstruction and get the same mm for mm performance - without the size convenience of course.

Watchhouse. No longer available unfortunately. It's really well made.

From tonight.

Which diagonal are you using?

Some one shot snaps with the StellaLyra 12" Dob and x4 Powermate with a Nikon D500.

I've tried to reprocess my image from above to show it. This is the best I can do with my skill level (basic).

In for a coffee at the moment. There's a layer of high cloud. Shame. the seeing is really good for once.

Couple more snaps... Struggling a bit with the camera. It's so heavy the Dob is wobbling like jelly.

You can see Rima Birt in this image from just now.

Rima Birt is quite well presented too. Birt E looks like a tadpole!

Just been studying Hesiodus and Pitatus. The rilles in Pitatus are quite prominent at x380. The good seeing is a chance to try out my 4mm eyepieces. Svbony 3-8 v 4mm Nirvana v 4mm Circle-T Ortho v 4mm TOE. They are all similar except the TOE is just a bit clearer. There's a hill in the right side of Pitatus with a 1.1km crater just below it. The crater was seen in all the eyepieces but was crisper and easier in the TOE. Also tried the Svbony at 3mm v the 3.3mm TOE. The TOE was the winner with the Svbony just a touch hazy. Quite acceptable detail though. I don't see a difference in magnification so I'm guessing the Svbony isn't actually 3mm.

Just been looking at it. The shadow is receding slightly now, but it's still a good view.

I've got the 12" out again. Just put it out and without any cooling (it's cool in the shed) the seeing is far better than last night. I've just been looking at Clavius and Tyco at x253 and it's lovely and crisp.

Maybe similar looking on the outside but using different alloys?